


In Unity

by mayachain



Series: Valentines2020 [8]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Brotherly Love, Camelot siblings, Early in Canon, Family Secrets, Friendship/Love, Gen, Good Morgana (Merlin), Pre-Canon, What-If
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:54:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25446442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mayachain/pseuds/mayachain
Summary: In their chambers in the castle of Camelot, a young Morgana tells little Prince Arthur stories about a princess that dreams. The dreams are frightening, magical, and sometimes they do come true.
Relationships: Morgana & Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Series: Valentines2020 [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1627531
Kudos: 25





	In Unity

** In Unity **

In their chambers in the castle of Camelot, a young Morgana tells little Prince Arthur stories about a princess that dreams. The dreams are frightening, magical, and sometimes they do come true.

Maybe she does it before she’s consciously aware of the danger she’s in. Maybe she does it because she senses, without knowing exactly why, that she can tell no one else about her nights. Maybe once she finds out what happens to sorcerers under Uther’s reign she digs in all the more stubbornly.

The point is this. Not a week passes without little Arthur hearing a story about a magical princess. And the boy would do nearly anything to please his father, right, that doesn’t change, never changes, cannot change. Yet the stories are just stories. Morgana is just a girl hardly any older than Arthur with vivid fantasies. Father, Uther, is the king, he doesn’t need to be bothered with girlish stories. 

The stories are just. Theirs.

Morgana grows up and with every passing year her visions grow more frightening. With every passing year more sorcerers burn and she hides, hides, hides. 

Every dream, every vision, every flash of what is to come she recounts to Arthur.

Neither can pinpoint exactly when the crown prince realizes that every snippet told to him had been one of Morgana’s dreams in truth.

They never talk about it. There are times Morgana is afraid that Arthur will tell on her, either because he’s too young to comprehend what is at stake or because they’ve quarrelled. He never does, _he never will_ , everything around her tells her, and Morgana fights back tears, humbled.

Arthur is training with swords - _Morgana_ is training with swords – their education reaches ever higher strata and they get more and more involved with the kingdom’s politics.

Knights are sent out to apprehend sorcerers. Arthur, still young, still learning, bumbles around to Uther's disappointment, until he is twelve years old and shines by leading a squad to a truly spectacular catch. (Arthur, who cannot articulate it but knows that the world is not as black and white as it appears according to Uther, lets the harmless people slip away and saves the pyres for those that are a genuine threat.)

There are whispers, though they are faint enough that they never reach Uther’s ears. There is a growing community of magicals at the outer edges of Camelot that knows that a force inside Camelot protects them. They hide, they hide, they hide. They _live_ , protected by – names never said aloud. They hide from Uther, they do. Yet - the line of Pendragon never loses their loyalty.

Morgana’s sleep turns easier with each life saved. Every life lost regardless of their efforts – they can only do so much – makes the nightmares worse.

Their duties force them to spend much of the day apart but they make time for Morgana to tell Arthur her dreams, always.

When Merlin comes… Well, that’s another matter entirely.

(Arthur keeps quiet because there are things it’s just better to never speak of, but he knows. He has just grown very, very accomplished at hiding knowledge.

He is a bit of a prat, but he is also a bit more thoughtful – is letting himself be more thoughtful – for his sister’s influence.)

When Morgause comes and tells Morgana the truth about her parentage… It’s nothing she has not always somehow sensed as the truth.

When Morgause drips poison into Arthur’s ear about Uther and Nimue and Ygraine… Well, if there’s any truth to it it would certainly explain more than a few things.

When Morgause tries to pitch them against each other, there’s nothing doing. 

The dreams Morgana has shared with her brother are countless. The resolve they have fostered in the toddler, the boy, the squire, the crown price, the future king is endless. 

Uther won’t be king forever. Morgana and Arthur are a unit and have been for longer than either can remember. The world will soon learn that there is nothing anyone could say or do to drive a wedge between them. 

It had best not try.

.


End file.
